Gaming devices and bonus rounds of gaming devices generally provide positive responses to inputs such as a player's selection. That is, when a player makes a choice in a gaming device by pressing a button or using another input device, the game normally continues play or awards a value associated with the button or input device. The player keeps or wins that which the player chooses. One example of such a game is a video poker game. In a standard video poker game, for example, the game deals the player a plurality of cards, the player selects one or more desired cards and the game continues play with the selected cards.
In known bonus games, when the game or player chooses from a plurality of awards, the game discards, discontinues using or does not award that which the player does not choose. European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 A2 filed on Mar. 18, 1999 and assigned on its face to WMS Gaming, Inc. discloses a bonus scheme of this type. A player has one or more opportunities to choose masked bonus awards from a group of symbols displayed to the player. When the player chooses a masked symbol, the game removes the mask and either awards the player with a bonus value or terminates the bonus round. The outcome depends upon whether the player selects an award or a terminator. To increase excitement and enjoyment, the game may reveal the contents of unselected symbols, however, the values of the unselected symbols do not mathematically factor into the player's award.
Gaming machines may also include bonus rounds in which the gaming device uses unselected awards; however, such uses do not involve mathematically applying the value of the unselected award. Foreign patent WO9732285 entitled, Slot Machine Game with Roaming Wild Card, having a publication date of Sep. 4, 1997, discloses an example. In this application, a slot machine having a video display contains a plurality of rotatable reels with game symbols. When the player receives a triggering symbol or combination, the game produces a bonus symbol. The bonus symbol roams from game symbol to game symbol temporarily changing the game symbol to a bonus symbol. If the change results in a winning combination, the player receives an award. The unselected symbols (i.e., ones which the bonus symbol does not change) are thus used here to form a winning combination and not to mathematically figure into an award value.